The Niger State House of Assembly has clarified that it did not approve a $14.4 million loan request from Governor Mohammed Umar Bago, following public criticism and media reports suggesting the state was seeking fresh borrowing.
Speaker Abdulmalik Sarkin-Daji explained during plenary that the governor’s correspondence only sought legislative approval for a bank guarantee in favour of the United Bank for Africa.
The guarantee was tied to a financing arrangement under the Saudi EXIM Line of Credit for Niger Foods Security Systems and Logistics Company.
According to the Speaker, the facility valued at $14,445,007.06 has a tenure of 84 months with an 18-month moratorium.
However, he stressed that the Assembly had merely received and read the correspondence, and had neither debated nor approved the request.
In a statement issued by his media aide, Ruqayyah Tanko, Sarkin-Daji emphasized that the arrangement was not a loan for the Niger State Government but a guarantee for Niger Foods, a limited liability company in which the state is the largest shareholder.
He noted that repayment responsibility rests entirely with the company, not the government.
“The only role of the Niger State Government in this arrangement is to serve as guarantor for the facility,” the Speaker said, adding that the financing institution required government backing due to the state’s significant shareholding in Niger Foods.
The clarification comes amid heightened public scrutiny of borrowing at both federal and state levels, with concerns over debt sustainability and transparency.
Niger Foods Security Systems and Logistics Company is one of the state’s flagship agribusiness initiatives aimed at boosting food production and agricultural value chains.
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